Published 5:30 am, Saturday, July 30, 2005

It's tough to fill big brother's shoes

In its first MLS season, Chivas USA has found that a name only gets you so far

CARSON, CALIF. - In its inaugural Major League Soccer season, Club Deportivo Chivas USA has all the trappings of success.

It carries the name and the familiar red-and-white colors of Guadalajara Chivas, Mexico's most-beloved soccer franchise. It has Legión 1908 (commemorating the year Chivas won their first Mexican amateur league title), a group of fans who gather in one end zone of the Home Depot Center in suburban Los Angeles to sing, chant and take turns waving the 6-foot-by-9-foot Chivas flag.

It has marketing might, with sponsorship deals with a dozen major companies from Honda to Bank of America and retail punch, with more than a dozen varieties of shirts and jerseys on sale at the stadium gift shop.

It has ChivaTown, a carnival of food booths and games on the stadium concourse; the Chivas Hall of Fame, where fans can see Chivas' 10 Mexican league championship trophies; and the ChivaGirls, who take the field before each game wearing skimpy versions of Chivas' red and white.

For role models, you can't beat Salvador "Chava" Reyes, who played on seven league championship teams in 15 seasons for Guadalajara Chivas and at age 68 still meets his compadres at 3 p.m. each Wednesday for a brisk game of fútbol.

Most importantly, there's magic in the name that breeds loyalty in the heart. As fans leave the Chivas Hall of Fame, they see the inscription "la gloria más grande de un equipo no son sus triunfos ni sus campeonatos sino el incondicional apoyo de sus aficionados."

It means "the greatest glory for a team is not its triumphs or its championships but the unwavering support of its fans."

What Chivas USA lacks is wins — its record of 3-14-3 is the poorest in MLS — and spectators — the average attendance of about 12,000 represents only about half-capacity at the Home Depot Center, which the team shares with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Chivas' success off the field and their U.S. team's struggles on the field represent a cautionary tale for a Mexican First Division archrival, Club América of Mexico City.

Wins hard to find

The first lesson is that it's not possible to scoop up a handful of younger and second-line players from Chivas' player development system, group them with a handful of established players and compete as a first-year MLS expansion team.

"The competition level of this league surprised people in Mexico," said Whit Haskel, Chivas USA's general manager and a former executive with the Galaxy. "We're trying to address that now, and we'll keep doing so until we're competitive."

Another hard-learned lesson is that the Chivas logo isn't enough to fill the stands. Particularly in a seasoned, sophisticated soccer market like Southern California, fans demand more.

"Chivas is the top soccer brand in Mexico, and everything that fans expect from them, they expect from us," Haskel said.

"But this also is a fan base that is renowned for last-minute decision-making, smaller household incomes, things that make it challenging to market any product. And, at the same time, it is a market of discerning fans who know what they want in a soccer product."

Away from the field, Chivas USA already shapes up as a model franchise. Its corporate sponsorship program is the most extensive in MLS, and it has broadcast agreements with cable and over-the-air stations, thriving merchandise sales and a fully bilingual front office.

Chivas USA targets most of its marketing budget to Spanish-language fans, although it also markets in English. Game announcements are made in both languages, and the club's Web site has English and Spanish links.

"We have laid the foundation," Haskel said.

But it's a slow process, even for a Chivas die-hard like Victor Santoyo of Hawthorne, Calif., a Guadalajara Chivas fan "since before I can remember" and a member of Legión 1908.

"When I heard about this team, I thought I'd be able to see the soccer we want — a happy environment and a passion for the sport. It's great to be around people who are already fans of Chivas."

One of the bedrock values of Guadalajara Chivas is their promotion of Mexican nationals over high-priced import players. Chivas USA cannot easily duplicate that ethnic makeup under MLS rules, but it has have eight Mexican players on the 18-man senior roster.

At the same time, the team is sponsoring soccer camps in Southern California that team co-owner Antonio Cue Sánchez-Navarro, a Mexico City real estate developer and investment banker, hopes will breed young Mexican-American stars for Chivas USA's future.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Cue said. "It takes time to build a franchise, even though the results aren't there yet. This league's roots are in the United States, and I think we will be able to develop Mexican-American players. This is just the beginning."

Help slow to arrive

On the same day earlier this month that Chivas honored Reyes and several other veterans of Guadalajara Chivas, it announced the signing of
Juan Pablo
"Loquito" Garcia, a member of the Mexican national team that competed in the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Two other refuerzos — reinforcements — defender Hector Castro and goalkeeper Sergio Garcia, have been training with Chivas. They have yet to sign contracts, however, and Garcia has been sidelined by the refusal of the Mexican soccer federation to grant him a release until next month to play in MLS.

Of Chivas USA's three MLS wins this season, two have come against MLS' other expansion team, Real Salt
Lake. Its most recent win, however, was against the New England Revolution, which is in second place in the Eastern Division.

"We've had to mix styles, bringing us together with the guys who came in with Mexico," said goalkeeper Brad Guzan, a former star at South Carolina who was Chivas USA's first-round draft pick.

"It's been a unique situation, not that we're using it as an excuse. It's just another challenge. I think we've overcome those cultural barriers, and now we just need to be productive on the field."

Reyes, who played in the late 1960s for a club team in Los Angeles after his days with Guadalajara Chivas, supports the extension of the Chivas brand and hopes fans will give the new team time to develop.

"It's a new team, too young to be judged," said Reyes, sitting in the owners' box at one end of the stadium. "You have to be patient. You can't create a team overnight.

At the other end, along with Legión 1908, Santoyo sat through another Chivas USA loss and hoped for better days.

"They're getting there," he said. "I was expecting them to lose a lot. I'll still be there to support them."

Four-pack of fútbol

In addition to the recent appearance by Reyes and his former teammates, Chivas USA will try to capitalize on its heritage with an Oct. 8 doubleheader at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Chivas USA will play the
L.A. Galaxy
, and the Mexican Chivas will face off against Club América.

And that raises the specter of what could happen with a Chivas USA-Club América Houston matchup down the line.

"It would be nice to have the rivalry here, too," said Reyes.

"It would be great," added Cue. "We would be 100 percent happy to have them (in MLS) because it would make the league stronger. We're behind them all the way — until we have to play them."